Complications
by zukoshotpants
Summary: Katara and Zuko have been seeing each other in secret, but things are starting to get a lot more complicated. Season 1 era, rife with ponytails and angst. Zutara. Discontinued, or on indefinite hiatus.
1. Things are Happening

Readers! Hi! This is a story born from my desire to write a Ponytail!Zuko/Katara story, because while I love love love Zuko during season three, there isn't enough season 1 Zutara to go around. And while season 1 Zutara comes at a price (no Toph sniff sniff), it has that more _forbidden romance_ thing that I just really enjoy. I don't really know where I'm going to go with this yet, but here's the first chapter! It should be a fun and angsty adventure. (Also I don't own this, although it would be really awesome if I did)

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Katara couldn't even really explain how it had begun. She supposed that somewhere, along the way, there had been enough exchanged glances and snide remarks that surmised in what could be considered _tension_, but it never seemed like it was enough to start...whatever this was.

The first time he captured her, he tied her against a tree and she told him to jump in the river. The last time, the most recent time, he'd slammed her against a tree and they'd jumped in the river together.

She'd heard of hate turning to lust, but she couldn't really be sure she'd ever _hated _him. Zuko had always been a tad _overzealous_ in his attempts to capture the Avatar, and he strode around the place with this sense of _grandeur_, but Katara had always seen through it. She couldn't have hated him, not really. He was too visibly broken inside to _hate_.

Whatever it was, hate or pity, dislike or _envy_, Katara had found herself running to him every chance he got. _Why does he keep capturing you_, Aang always wondered, _what does he want? _

Katara always lied and said that Zuko probably figured capturing her was the easiest way to lure Aang within his grasp. But that wasn't true. Zuko still had his eyes on the Avatar, Katara knew that, but that desire seemed to have been compromised for others. Nearly every week he would show up, surrounded by fire and smoke, and seconds later, Katara would be gone. Maybe Aang and Sokka were suspicious. Maybe Katara didn't care.

_On no account will I betray Aang to you_, she told him the first time, when his breath was tickling her neck and his hands, _his hands_ were running up and down her body. _You're acting like I don't already know that_, Zuko had said in her ear, his voice raspy and low. She had trembled then, his voice always did that to her. Especially when he leaned so close that his lips tickled her ear, and when lips turned to teeth.

The way he kissed her had been so _hungry_, so _fervent_, it seemed to Katara that he _needed_ this more than she could imagine. He was always a little rough with her, but Katara didn't mind because it _felt good_. Whether they were wrapped up in the silk sheets of his bed or on the cold, hard ground, it all felt the same. Amazing.

That's how it had started; lust, passion, what Katara could only call _a steamy affair_. But somewhere along the line, it had turned into something different than that. She started playing with his hair when he was lying down, he started poking her in the side so she would snort and make funny noises. Somewhere, along the line, Katara and Zuko had started to _care _about each other, which confused Katara as much as it made her feel _elated_.

Zuko was as conflicted about it as she was, she knew. There was such a war going on inside of him, and it filled him with so much _anger_. That's when he would capture her, when he was _furious_, when steam was hissing out of his ears and his skin was burning like fire. And then Katara would kiss him, and she could feel his anger melt away, she could feel that war settle down for only a moment, and Zuko would collapse in her arms. _Thank you_, he would murmur, and Katara would rub his shoulders and kiss him until he felt better.

That particular night, Katara had been charged with the first watch. She huddled close to the fire, wrapped up in her Water Tribe coat, wanting nothing more than to close her eyes and go to sleep. It had been a long day, Aang had insisted on stopping here and there and everywhere, and Sokka had (politely) requested that she mend all his pants, and all the while, the Fire Nation was on their trail.

Katara still hated the Fire Nation. Nothing had changed about that. Her fingers raised to her mother's necklace, and she tried to displace the images of her mother being killed from her memory. Soft footsteps padded up to her.

"You shouldn't be here," Katara whispered, looking at Zuko, who stood over her. He sat down, ignoring her. Katara scooted over to him.

"We're camping nearby. I just wanted to see you," he said quietly, taking a lock of hair in his fingers. Katara just nodded and rested against his shoulder. She watched the fire snap and play at the air, it's tendrils curling into smoke.

There were days when she hated fire.

Katara and Zuko had mutually agreed that as far as they were concerned, there was no war when they were together. They would forget about the war, the opposite sides they fought on, and the matter of the Avatar. But tonight, it was pressing too heavily on Katara's mind to forget.

"The Fire Nation took my mother from me," she said quietly, watching the fire still. "I watched a man...I watched him do it."

"Katara..." Zuko took her hand. "I didn't know."

"We're not on the same side."

Zuko didn't say anything. But Katara pressed on, whispering fervently, her breath visible in the cold night.

"We're playing a game that we're not skilled enough to play," she said, "and we're going to pay for it. What happens when the inevitable climactic battle comes? When I choose my side and you choose yours? What happens when I'm next to Aang, fighting your father? What do we do when we face each other in the end?"

The words hung in the air, shriveling and turning into ice. Zuko's face remained a mask.

"It's not the end yet."

"It'll come," Katara insisted. She found herself clutching him, burying her face in shoulder, taking in the smell of his musk. "_I don't want to lose you_," she whispered, "but..."

"But I'm the bad guy," Zuko finished. Katara didn't say anything.

It was always going to get complicated.

"But you're not a bad guy, Zuko," she told him, "you aren't. I know you aren't."

"Maybe."

Zuko's ponytail tickled her ear as it moved in the wind. He sighed. Something within Sokka's tent rustled, and Katara and Zuko jumped, but Sokka didn't come out.

Katara didn't want Zuko to leave, of course. He didn't seem to want to leave either, but he stood up all the same, Katara clinging to his arm.

"Take me again," she suggested, "we can go back to your camp, we can say that I was spying on you, or something, I..."

"I already captured you this week," Zuko said, "I can't do it again. Uncle is already starting to suspect something. He wants to know why I don't just capture the Avatar, or your brother." He paused. "I want to though. I want to take you back with me."

"But you can't."

"No."

Katara, still clutching his arm, stayed rooted to the spot as Zuko tried to walk away.

"Zuko?"

He looked at her, that ever burning conflict flickering in his eyes. _I could say it_, Katara thought, _I could tell him how much I love him_.

He seemed to know what she was thinking, because a sad smile crossed his face.

"You don't need to say it," he said quietly, brushing a thumb over her cheek.

"I do, though."

"I know," he paused. "I do too."

Katara flung her arms around him, and Zuko held her, her head pressed under his chin.

"If there wasn't a war, would we be together?" Katara asked him.

"If there wasn't a war, we probably never would have met," Zuko said in a low voice. Katara knew he was right.

"The war will end, though," she said. "And then?"

"It depends."

"On what?"

"On which side wins."

Heavy hearted, Katara watched Zuko walk away. He passed into the woods and disappeared from her sight, and Katara felt a tear roll down her cheek. _This is silly_, she thought, wiping it away. _It was never supposed to be about love_.

"Katara?" Katara turned around and saw Aang standing behind her. "Were you talking to someone?"

"Me? No, just...myself," she laughed nervously. "Are you taking over the watch?"

Aang nodded, but looked at her curiously.

"Are you okay?"

Katara paused.

"How long do you think the war is going to last?" she asked eventually. Aang sighed and shrugged.

"I don't know. Avatar Roku said I had to defeat Ozai before the end of the summer. So I guess until then."

"And you think defeating Ozai will end the war?"

"I mean..." Aang rubbed the back of his neck. "I hope so. Unless someone just as evil takes over as Fire Lord. But I don't think anyone is as evil as Ozai."

"No," Katara agreed half heartedly, "you're right." Zuko was in line for the throne, she knew, but he'd told her all about his sister, who had the same potential for evil and just as much potential to surpass his right. "Do you think...do you think everyone has good in them?"

"I'm a monk, of couse I think that," Aang said earnestly. "Sometimes it's buried down...way way way way down...but everyone has good in them." He smiled at Katara, and she smiled back. "You should go to bed. I'll take the watch now." Aang sat down and crossed his legs in a meditation pose. A little reassured, Katara went back to her tent.

Her dreams were of fire.

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Thanks for reading and being awesome in general!


	2. Not My Color

Another chapter! I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this at the moment but all I know is that Zutara demands to be written, and this is what's coming out. Katara gets more confused about her life, and Zuko remains a complicated human being who is complicated.

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After her brief, encounter with Zuko, it was five days before he came back. Aang and Sokka put up a bit of a fight, but it was with more of a _resigned_ sigh that they let Zuko make off with her, exchanging a glance that Katara clearly read as "_again?_"

So they had absconded back to his ship and slipped into his quarters without anyone seeing. At the moment, Zuko was showing her a large, red garment she wasn't particularly interested in.

"I don't know, red's not really my color."

Katara lay on Zuko's bed, her chin resting on crossed arms, her head at the footboard. Her feet kicked at the air, and Zuko offered her the robe again.

"It gets cold at night," he said, "especially out on the water."

"I like it when we make camp better," Katara said, pulling the red robe over her water tribe dress. "It's less...rocky."

"I thought you liked the water," Zuko said, his voice teasing. He bent down to take her face in his hands and give her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"I love the water, it's the ship I don't like," she told him with a playful smile as he sat down on the bed with her. "It's so cold and _bleak_."

"You know, I can always warm you up," Zuko murmured, leaning forward to kiss her neck. Katara sighed in happiness. She wrapped her arms around him and ran her hands up and down his back, savoring the feeling of his body through the silk.

"I could use some warming up," Katara murmured, bringing his mouth to her lips. He took her head in his hands, kissing her gently for a few moments, before his kisses turned rough. His fingers fisted in her hair, and behind every gasp for air was a week's worth of pent up frustration and anguish. She melted into him, digging her fingers into his skin to hear that familiar hiss in her ear.

Zuko was always _fervent_ when it came to his secret encounters with Katara, but tonight there was _something more_. He was two years older than she was, and she had more than a suspicion that he wanted _something more_, but they both knew Katara wasn't ready to give that yet. Still, he groaned through his teeth and pressed himself fiercely against her, his hands burning.

A long while later, Katara found herself contented with resting her head on his chest, soothed by the sound of his still racing heartbeat. Zuko kissed her forehead, sighed, and excused himself to the bathroom.

Katara reached for the discarded silk robe, and slipped it over her disheveled dress. She smoothed out her hair and curled up, letting the gentle rocking of the ship soothe her frazzled nerves. Being fake captured was fun and all, but there was still the anxiety about getting caught, and not just by Aang and Sokka. There was a whole crew to worry about, soldiers, experienced firebenders, and one very nosy uncle.

The first few times she had been fake captured, Zuko had dragged her publicly to the ship. But then, some lieutenant had insisted on throwing her in a cell, and she had to spend three miserable days in there before she and Zuko figured something else out.

Aang and Sokka dropping in on Zuko's ship wasn't exactly a weird thing for them to be doing, since Zuko was constantly dogging them all over the world; no one batted an eye when they came to rescue Katara, because no one knew that that's what they were doing. Amidst the confusion and chaos, Katara would slip back to them, and the crew would assume she just came with them.

Footsteps clanked past the door, the sound of metal on metal grating at Katara's ears. She bolted up, just in case. There was a full waterskin on the ground, she could use it if she had to.

"I want this ship heading _south_, not _southwest_," Zuko's voice came from the other side of the door, full of impatience.

"Sir, we can't pass directly south. There are likely to be Earth Kingdom blockades, we can't risk..."

"Then run the blockades," Zuko responded coldly. "The search for the Avatar is of..."

"..._utmost importance_. We know," the other man sighed, and clanking footsteps signified his departure. Katara looked expectantly to the door, but it didn't open. Instead, a third voice started speaking.

"Prince Zuko, I do not think this is wise. This ship is small, and your men are weary. Our chances of successfully passing through a blockade unharmed are _very slim_."

"I don't have any other choice."

"We always have choices, my nephew."

Katara heard Zuko's familiar frustrated grunt, and could almost hear the scowl that went along with it.

"I don't have time for your proverbs. I need to go to bed."

"So does your crew. Allow the ship to make port, and we can talk this over in the morning."

"..._fine_."

There was a silence, and more footsteps before Zuko came back into the room.

"Sorry about that," he muttered, walking over to the bed and sitting down, looking cross. Katara reached for his shoulder.

_But I'm the bad guy_, he had told her, and she had been doing everything in her power to forget that was true. And somewhere, a tiny part of her wanted to believe that he was done trying to catch Aang.

"Zuko..."

"I'm not going to stop," he said, turning his head away from her. "I can't stop hunting Aa...the Avatar."

"I know." Katara's voice was small, and sadder than she had expected it to be. _He's the bad guy_. "Can I ask...why?"

"Because _everything I am_ depends on it," was all Zuko said, still not meeting her eyes. Katara frowned, and poked him gently in the side.

"But _why_?" she pressed.

"I don't want to get into it right now, okay?" Zuko's temper flared, and she backed down, although she wasn't satisfied. "_Sorry_."

Katara didn't hesitate to take his hand. He sighed, squeezing it, the heat of his anger seeping briefly into Katara's skin before it ebbed away somewhat.

"I'm not going to stop either," she said after a while, her hand still on his shoulder. "Keeping you away from Aang."

"I know that too."

"And you can _forget_ putting a hand on my brother."

"Why on earth would I need your brother?" Zuko looked at her with a frown, but there was a playful smirk in his eyes, and Katara stiffened with a false and exaggerated air of indignation, eager to change the mood.

"I'll have you know that Sokka is a highly skilled warrior," she insisted, her indignation betrayed by the sly smile on her face. "And could take you in a fight with _both_ hands tied behind his back."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind next time I'm kicking his butt," Zuko said haughtily, putting an arm around Katara. She shook her head at him, before she lunged for his waist with her tickling fingers, digging them into his sides in a futile attempt to make him laugh.

"You know that's not going to work," he told her, wrapping his arms around her and trapping her arms to her sides. "I'm not the ticklish one."

And he dug _his _fingers into _her_ sides, and she shrieked, laughing. He didn't relent until she fell over the edge of the bed, but even then he went down with her and pinned her to the floor, smiling, _laughing_.

His laugh was a beautiful thing, so rare, so _contagious_, so...fleeting.

There was a knock on the door, and Zuko turned _serious _again and shushed Katara.

"What?" he demanded of the knocker.

"We just wanted to know what was going on, sir," someone said from the other end. "We heard _suspicious giggling_."

"Tell whoever wants to know that _it's none of their business_," Zuko snapped. "Have we laid anchor yet?"

"It is best to leave a young man alone when he is taking a bite out of the fruit of love." Zuko went red when he heard his uncle's voice, and Katara stifled a giggle. "Do not bother him any further."

"As you say, General."

Once more, footsteps dissipated, but not before Katara swore she heard a "_Don't mess it up. And yes we have laid anchor_" whispered through the metal door. Zuko only turned a deeper shade of red and slid of Katara, only to cross his legs and slump.

Katara, due to her powers of infallible judgement, knew that this was the best possible time to try and convince Zuko further that he was making all wrong decisions in his life and should come onto the side of the good already. She had given him that speech a lot, more and more increasingly since they had first talked about their opposite alignment at the campfire. His response was always the same, a sigh and a patronizing smile, and a look that said _drop it Katara, it's not going to happen okay_.

But Katara knew she was the best at _gentle encouragement_ and if Zuko needed anything, it was a good helping of _gentle encouragement_.

Tonight, he just propped up his head with a hand, his elbow resting on his knee. Katara tried to ignore the _boredom_ emanating from his eyes.

"Look, Katara..." Zuko said, holding a hand out to stop her once she got talking about hope and the importance of the world banding together, "This isn't about the world."

She balked slightly. "How isn't it?"

"What I'm doing is about my honor, my throne. I'm the rightful heir, but I can't claim it if I'm banished. I need to regain my honor so I can have what is _rightfully mine_."

"So it's about you, then?" Katara pressed. Once upon a time, she would have rather provoked a raging platypus bear than Prince Zuko. But Zuko's buttons were made to be pushed, and he had quite a lot of buttons.

"It's not about _me_, it's about my country," he said, his voice even. "If I'm not there to take the throne it's ready, _Azula _will."

"And capturing the Avatar is the answer to regaining your honor?"

"_Yes."_

"That seems a little silly, don't you think?"

Zuko gave her a pained look.

"I'm not a huge fan of the whole 'let's talk about the war all the time' thing we've started."

"We can't ignore it," Katara insisted. "We're _in_ a war, Zuko, and we're not on the same side."

"How about this," Zuko said, rolling her earlobe between his thumb and forefinger. "Forget about it, just for tonight, and I won't try and capture your bald friend for two weeks."

"But..."

"...shhhh," he said, putting a finger to her lips. "_That's not what this is about_."

_But what is this about? _Katara wanted to ask, but Zuko seemed resigned to silence as he laid his head in her lap and closed his eyes. She ran her fingers through his hair, playing with it as it fell on her leg. Part of her, a huge part of her, wanted Zuko to open up and spill all his feelings to her, because that's what people _did_ when...when they were like Zuko was with Katara. But there was another part of her that knew that was probably a huge gate she didn't want to open, a huge gate where complicated, confusing, and angsty Zuko emotions would come rushing at her all at once and she would have no idea what to do with any of them.

So she contented herself with playing with his ponytail, arranging it on his head so it looked like an actual full head of hair. She sighed, and he gave her a small smile.

"You know that _other_ thing we don't talk about?" he said quietly, looking up at her. _You mean the way I think about you when you're not here? The way your hands make me feel when you brush my skin? The way that I can't get you out of my head, not for one, single, second?_

"You don't have to say it," she told him softly. She'd wanted to tell him before, so many times, but there was no reason to put that out there if it wasn't...if it wasn't going to be _real_.

If Zuko wanted to start listening to her, he wasn't going to start now. Instead he looked at her a little smugly, his eyes glinting in the low light of the room.

"I love you."

Katara's breath hitched, and she started at him for a moment.

"I love you too," she whispered back, realizing it all over again as the words tumbled easily into the air.

_Well, now I'm in trouble._

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Author's Note: Obviously, Katara isn't cool with the fact that Zuko is constantly trying to abscond with her monk friend, and he's not cool with the fact that she's constantly trying to stop him from doing that, but she can still sense that deep inside, he is just a goofy awkward kid who is super bad at making nice with people. But I want to avoid situations in which Zuko is all "CAPTURING THE AVATAR = HONOR" and Katara just shrugs and goes, "s'cool man, cause I love you and you're deep and complicated"

Because that's not how it goes, folks

In the next chapter, there will be AANG and SOKKA and FIGHTING ABOUT THINGS.

Thanks for reading, and super thanks to the people who already read/reviewed/favorited you guize are the best no really


	3. In Which Sokka Realizes Some Things

Hello friends! Sorry this has taken a while, I would give an excuse but I really don't have one. So with that, here's a new chapter!

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As was his word, it was two weeks before she saw Zuko again.

Sokka thought it was weird, and he said so while he watched Aang and Katara practice waterbending in a small stream.

"I mean, he's _always_ around," Sokka said, bewildered. "And then he just vanishes for two weeks? It doesn't make any sense."

"You sound worried," Katara commented with a smirk, swirling water over her head. "Do you miss him?"

"No!" Sokka insisted indignantly. "I'm just saying that it's _weird_."

"Maybe he gave up," Aang shrugged, copying Katara's motions. "He did fail a lot. Maybe he's on to other pursuits."

"I don't know, he's pretty tricky. In a stupid way," Sokka quickly added.

"Of course." Katara conceded patronizingly. Sokka huffed and crossed his arms.

"All I'm saying is, we've gotten a little relaxed on the Zuko front. For all we know, he could be hiding in the bushes right now, waiting for the right moment to attack."

"I don't know, maybe he just went back to the Fire Nation." Aang whirled his arms and a tendril rose from the water.

"But he can't go home, he was banished," Katara said, showing Aang how to control the tendril. "He can't go home until he has _you_."

"Who, Aang, or _you_?" Sokka asked pointedly, snacking on some seal jerky. "Because he's been doing not so much Aang capturing and a _whole lotta Katara capturing_."

"I told you, he was trying to set up a trap."

"It kind of stopped working. Actually, it didn't even work the first time. We got you back pretty easily."

"I'm not saying it was a good trap," Katara muttered, creating a whirling ball of water that she and Aang sustained at the same time. "I'm just explaining his motives."

"It kinda sounds like you're defending him. I bet you _let_ him capture you. I bet you _like him,_" Sokka teased, adopting a high pitched tone. "_Oh Prince Zuko, you're so bad!"_

It was true, but Katara just shook her head at Sokka and made herself laugh. "Shut up!" she said, and sent a jet of water in his face and Sokka spluttered, but remained good natured. "_I never said that_."

"Yeah, Katara didn't let herself get captured," Aang insisted, getting a little grumpy about it. "Why would she do that?"

"He's just teasing," Katara said, bending the water back out of her brother's clothes as he complained about it. "That's what Sokka does."

"I know," Aang looked down at the water. "He's wrong, right?"

"I...of course!" Katara lied. "Why would I let him capture me? That...that would be stupid!"

"Yeah." Aang smiled at her, his grumpiness washing away. "Besides, you wouldn't ever like him anyway. Not with..." Aang gestured to his right eye, and Katara's stomach twisted.

"Yeah, that." she paused uncomfortably. "I think that's enough practice for today." she stepped onto the bank and pulled her dress on, tightened the sash, and walked back to the clearing they were camping in (but not before taking a strip of seal jerky from Sokka, who protested loudly).

_Not with the scar_, Aang meant to say, _you wouldn't like him, not with the scar_. The scar was a very sensitive matter, and Katara didn't bring it up if she could help it. Sometimes it came up on it's own; she would accidentally brush a hand over it and Zuko would wince, but not because it still hurt. _It's probably a painful memory_, she figured_, and he's not going to want to talk about it for a long time_. Still, as big as it was, as obvious as it was, Katara had stopped seeing it. It was just part of his face, like Aang's arrow was just part of his head, in the same way that people had different mouths, noses, and eyes. It was just part of Zuko's face, and she had stopped looking at the scar as an imperfection, as an individual object that marred his appearance. Because Zuko was _handsome_, he was incredibly handsome, and the scar didn't take away from that, not even a little bit. Sure, there were times Katara wished that Zuko had a full head of hair instead of that silly ponytail, but the _scar_...she had never really pictured his face without it. It was a part of Zuko...and she loved Zuko.

She sulked about it for quite a long time, until Sokka came up to her.

"I didn't mean what I said, you know. About you trying to get captured."

"I know," she said, keeping her voice bright. She wasn't mad, just sulky. Besides, she couldn't exactly be mad at Sokka for being right, even if he was only teasing. And as her older brother, it was sort of his job to tease her. She told him so, and he smiled a little.

Sokka sat down with her. They'd set up camp in small, enclosed grassy area of the forest. The sound of the stream trickled in Katara's ears, and she found herself feeling better as she concentrated on the flow of the water.

"You okay?" Katara asked of her brother.

"Yeah, of course." Sokka had the habit of shrugging off things that were bothering him, but Katara always knew better. She gave him an appraising look, and he sighed. "What if Aang can't master all four elements in time? He's just a kid, and I don't know if you've noticed, his concentration skills...well, he doesn't have them."

"He has to be able to do it," Katara said softly, touching her mother's necklace. "He's already mastered airbending, and he's really coming along quickly in waterbending. More quickly than I expected."

"He likes you, you know."

"I know," Katara muttered. She was less than pleased about this development.

Sokka smirked a little. "Oh, _I see_. He's not _bad _enough for you."

"Shut _up_, Sokka," Katara gave him a gentle slap on the arm. Aang wandered back into the clearing at that point, his shirt turned up at the hem like it was a pouch, full of some sort of fruit.

"Moon peaches!" he said excitedly, dumping them on the ground. "There's a whole grove of them!"

"Moon peaches, my favorite, how did you know?"

Katara, Aang, and Sokka all jumped at the icy voice that had snuck up on them.

"_I told you we were getting too relaxed on the Zuko front_,_" _Sokka shrieked, grabbing frantically for his club.

Zuko's leg cut an arc through the air, and a thrash of fire hissed forward, sending Sokka skittering backwards.

"I'm getting tired of chasing you, Avatar," Zuko said. _He had men with him_, Katara noticed. _Lots of them_. "Give up and come with me, and no one has to get hurt." He cradled a handful of fire threateningly. "Much."

Katara realized with a jolt that he was here to actually capture Aang, not her. There was venom in his eyes, eyes that never once turned on her.

"I'm not going with you, and you're not hurting anyone!" Aang said firmly, stamping his glider on the ground. He swirled it deftly between his hands, and sent Zuko flying off his feet. Zuko cried a frustrated order for his men to attack, and they did.

Aang had his hands full with the Fire Prince, so Katara and Sokka were left to deal with the advancing troops. Katara let the water out of her water skin, and used it as a water whip to threaten some of the soldiers away. Sokka, as ever, had his trusty boomerang.

"Don't come closer," he warned, stepping protectively in front of his sister. "We're armed and _very_ dangerous."

"We'll see about that," one of the soldiers smirked, and they unleashed a fire attack all in unison. Katara dropped to her knees and evaded, accidentally knocking Sokka down with her (which was pretty lucky for him). She used the water from the stream to ice them to trees, but the thing about firebenders was that ice didn't particularly hinder them.

_I'll never stop protecting Aang_.

"Katara, your left!" she heard Sokka yell, and she sent a barrage of water in that direction. Her attack was answered by a shriek, and she spun around to her brother, who was trying desperately not to get burned.

"Sokka!" she yelled, wrapping a tendril around his attackers wrist. She jerked him to the ground, and Sokka landed a bash on his head.

The constant fire attacks were starting to cause Katara's water to steam, and soon the area was clouded with fog. It became hard to see; firebenders would suddenly be at Katara's back, and she would have to react quickly if she didn't want to get seriously hurt.

_He wouldn't let me_, she thought firmly to herself, trying to find Zuko in the fog. _He wouldn't let me get hurt._

But Zuko had different prerogatives in mind this time. She heard his voice in her head, low, raspy, and firm. _I still need to capture the Avatar._

_ I know_, she had told him, her hands wringing.

She dodged yet another fire blast, and managed to uproot a soldier with a low kick to the legs.

_I'm doing pretty good_, Katara thought, impressed with herself. That was, until a firebender put a knife to her throat.

"I always wanted to know," he growled in her ear, "if it's blood that runs through a water peasant's veins, or if it's just _muddy water_."

Katara's heart stopped. _He wants to kill me_. She whimpered. Her head clouded and everything went as foggy as the air around her, and she heard herself scream, she heard herself scream, _"ZUKO!"_

She saw Aang's eyes, terrified through the mist.

And suddenly, Zuko was there.

"_Put. The knife. Down."_ he hissed in the soldiers ear.

Katara whimpered again. The man had grabbed both of her hands and was holding them against her back, otherwise she would have _bended_, she would have _kicked his ass with her awesome bending powers_.

"Why?" he growled. "This peasant is an enemy to the Fire Nation. It'd be better to rid ourself of her now, be done with it."

"_She's only fourteen, you halfwit!" _Zuko lost his temper completely, and in an extraordinary feat of athleticism, kicked the man firmly in the head from where he was standing. He fell back with a thud, and the knife clattered to the ground. Aang skittered forward and picked it up before throwing it promptly in the river.

Katara dropped to her knees, shaking.

The arms that picked her back up were strong.

If there wasn't a war, if there wasn't she on the good side and he on the bad, it would have been Zuko gripping her tightly, making sure she was okay, holding onto her like he was the only thing that could keep her safe. But it was Sokka who came to her, his eyes blurred with tears.

"_Thank spirits, Katara_," he muttered into her shoulder, hugging her fiercely. Zuko stood behind him, and Katara looked at him over her brother's shoulder. He looked incurably distraught, mouthing _I'm sorry, I'm so sorry_, to which Katara only responded with_ you saved me._ Aang joined in the hug, clutching onto his friend as tightly as Sokka was. Zuko hovered uncertainly. He wanted to go to her, he wanted to hold her and wrap her up and keep her safe, but it wasn't for him to do.

_You saved me_.

Instead, he turned to his troops.

"Go back to the ship," he snapped. "You're all a _disgrace."_

Zuko stripped Katara's would-be assassin of all his physical weapons, and started to drag him back by one leg. Aang broke off from the hug and looked to his enemy.

"Thanks," he said, a little uncertainly, but not unkindly. "For saving her."

Zuko looked at him for what seemed like ages, a response calculating behind his golden eyes.

"I never wanted anyone to die," he finally said hoarsely. "Not at my hands."

And he turned back around, dragging the man behind him as he went.

"Are you okay? Are you _sure_ you're okay?"

When Katara ever got sick, injured, or fatally threatened by an angry firebending soldier, Sokka transformed from an irate, sarcastic brother to a hovering, worried, mother turtleduck. It was a stunning metamorphosis, really.

"Sokka, I'm fine," Katara reassured him, wrapping herself up in a blanket. They had moved their campsite a good many miles north, in the worry that the firebenders would come back. They had landed in at least a dozen possible sites, each to be turned down by Sokka the Leader, who eventually picked a spot he felt was secluded enough.

Something was bothering Aang. Katara guessed that it was the fact that someone had recently made an attempt on her life, but you could never be so sure with Aang. He was enigmatic.

"I didn't even get scratched, see?" Katara showed her brother, and he seemed a little reassured.

"I just...I know they were ruthless, but...I didn't know they were _that _ruthless," he muttered, his eyes still wide.

"They wiped out all my people." Aang said, his voice unnaturally cold. "Of course they're ruthless."

"It's okay though, I'm f..."

"It's not okay!" he yelled. "Someone tried to _kill_ you today, unless you hadn't noticed!"

"Yeah, I _noticed_, but...but I didn't get _killed_, did I?"

"When he grabbed you," Aang said, "you yelled for Zuko. Not Sokka, not me, _Zuko_."

"And?"

It had been a mistake, Katara knew. But in that second, she had forgotten he was the enemy. In that second, he was just the boy she loved, and she _needed _him.

"_And_, I'm just saying, it's _weird. _Why did you yell for him and not us?"

Sokka glanced at Katara, and much to her surprise, spoke up.

"She probably figured he was the only one who could stop the soldier. He's in charge of them; that guy probably wouldn't have listened to either one of us."

Katara glanced at Sokka in surprise, who gave her a look that said _don't mention it, but we are going to talk about this once Aang goes to bed_, and she nodded sheepishly and looked back at Aang.

"He's right Aang, I just needed Zuko to give him the order to stop."

"And how did you know he was going to defend you?"

She paused.

"I didn't. It was a chance I had to take."

"You could take a chance with me, you know," Aang said huffily, standing up. "I _am_ the Avatar."

And with that, he airbended his way up onto Appa's back, and gave one last _huff_ before crouching down in the saddle, disappearing from sight.

Katara looked at Sokka uncertainly, who poked their campfire with a stick.

"Katara..." he said after a while, his brow furrowed. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"What do you..."

"You know what I'm talking about." His voice was quiet but gentle, protective, even. "You're playing with fire."

Katara paused, her hands fisting in the blanket that was draped around her shoulders.

"How did you know?" she asked quietly, staring blankly at the fire. Sokka sighed.

"Well, for starters, _he captures you every single week_. It was suspicious the third time, doing it twenty more times wasn't going to make it any less so." He looked over at her. "Do you actually _care_ about him?"

"It's confusing," Katara mumbled, hiding her head between her knees. Sokka was never supposed to find out, _no one_ was ever supposed to have found out.

If things were escalating far from her control before, they certainly were now. _Fire is the most dangerous element. It's powerful, but it's destructive, and it spreads before you can do anything about it._

"The funny part is...if any of this can be considered funny...is that he seems to care about you too," Sokka's voice sounded far away. "When you were being attacked, and you screamed for him...I've never seen anyone _move_ so fast. I've never seen a look of panic like that on a man's face."

"It's stupid," Katara muttered into her knees, and before she could stop it, the tears came. "_I'm so damn stupid_. He's the _enemy_, he's the _bad guy_. I'm so sorry Sokka, I don't know what I was _thinking_, I..."

"Katara, shh," Sokka said gently, putting a hand on her arm. "See normally, I'd be really _really _mad about you getting involved with some crazy, enemy firebender...and when I put it like that, I realize I am a little mad about it...but if anything, it only seems to be helping us."

"It...does?" Katara was confused. This was the opposite reaction she expected from worried, protective mother turtleduck Sokka.

"Think about it. He spends all this time capturing you instead of Aang, and let's face it, he was handy in a pinch."

"Wait, let me get this straight," Katara looked at her brother, _really inspected him_, to make sure he was the real Sokka and not some strange _fake Sokka _planted by the Fire Nation. "You're saying thatit's a good thing I'm..._involved _with a crazy, enemy firebender?"

"You know, he really is crazy," Sokka said thoughtfully. "He's like _king _crazy. No, that's King Bumi. He's _prince _crazy, which makes more sense, because he prince of the Fi..."

"Sokka," Katara interrupted his wandering train of thought. "Get back to the point."

"Oh, right, the point." Sokka cleared his throat importantly. "What I'm saying, is that I'm not completely mad at you about this _because_ it's mostly really only helped us out. I'm plenty mad at him, for reasons related and unrelated, but other than that, you're in the clear."

"Wow Sokka, I didn't expect you to be so...understanding," Katara said in amazement.

"Hey, understanding is my middle name," Sokka said, tousling her hair and laughing. "I always knew bad boys were your _weak spot_."

"Hey," Katara protested, and laughed. It felt odd to laugh, after everything that happened, but what Sokka had said had put her over the moon. _Maybe it is possible_, she found herself hoping, _maybe this isn't beyond us after all_.

Sokka wiped a tear from his eye, still laughing. "Of course, I'm absolutely forbidding you from seeing him ever again."

Katara stopped laughing.

"What?"

"Well you can't _keep seeing him_," Sokka said, "He's the bad guy!"

"But everything you just said..."

"I'm forgiving things that happened _in the past_," Sokka put his arm around her, and patted her on the knee with his other hand. "That doesn't mean it's okay to date crazy en..."

"Crazy enemy firebenders, I know," Katara said glumly.

_There goes that_, she thought morosely, feeling her heart beating somewhere from within the very lowest depths of her being.

"You know I'm right," Sokka said softly. Katara didn't say anything, but nodded thickly. _He is right_.

"I know," she said, her voice barely audible. Maybe it was time. Maybe they'd gone as far as they could go, given the circumstances.

Maybe it was time for this to stop.

* * *

Author's note: Of course at some point, Katara will make a big stink about this whole thing, and Aang will make a bigger stink about it, and Zuko's stink will be off the charts, but at the moment, she's just going to accept it because in the back of her mind, she's been worrying about whether this whole thing is right or not. After all, this is still Season 1 Zuko, and he's still a bit of an angry twat (he'll mostly grow out of that).

Next chapter: I have no idea, because I haven't thought that far ahead oops

As always, thanks for reading, you all make my life so happy


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